All posts tagged United Auto Workers

DETROIT—Union workers at Detroit’s two largest auto makers are on track for big profit-sharing payouts for this year.

Officials at the United Auto Workers union have told members employed at General Motors Co. to expect profit-sharing checks for as much as $7,000 early next year, according to two people briefed on the matter. Over at Ford Motor Co., which is more profitable than GM in North America, the 2012 payouts could top $8,000, based on a pay formula spelled out in the UAW contract.

Italian auto maker Fiat SpA is expected to increase its stake in Chrysler Group LLC to 61.9% from 58.5% as early as next week by purchasing shares held by a large trust fund that provides health care for retired union workers, people familiar with the matter said.

Fiat would exercise an option to buy a small number of shares in Chrysler from the United Auto Workers retiree healthcare trust early next week, these people said. The option allows Fiat to buy a 3.3% stake. In rounded figures, that will increase Fiat’s stake to 61.9%

DETROIT–American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. dealt the United Auto Workers a second blow Thursday by announcing the closure of its New York gear-making plant after union rank-and-file members failed to ratify a new contract late last month.

The Cheektowaga plant, employing about 100 hourly and salaried workers, will be shut sometime after Feb. 25, American Axle spokesman Christopher Son said. The announcement comes a month after the company said it will close its Detroit plant after workers there failed to agree to wage cuts. That closure will throw about 300 people out of work.

In a reflection of the changing fortunes of the auto industry, a Democratic congressional delegation touring the Detroit Auto Show joked as they perused the GM, Ford and Chrysler displays.

Jumping out of the driver’s seat of a shiny red Chevy Sonic, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) exclaimed: “We hardly used any gas at all.” Later as he discovered the doors of a Buick Regal were locked, he said: “This is high-end. It’s locked. And I was going to drive it out too, son of a gun.”